The Boys in the Boat

With handsome production values and good intentions, The Boys in the Boat is George Clooney’s earnest but bland historical sports drama about the University of Washington rolling team that competed for gold in the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. In re-creating the Great Depression and delivering a sports portrait, Clooney has helmed something commendable and inspirational, hitting all the familiar heart-tugging beats with some character-driven drama, but despite the impeccable visuals and solid performances by Callum Turner and Joel Edgerton, the film doesn’t fully satisfy on a dramatic or emotional level. It’s a remarkable story told unremarkably, and so much perspective and idealism are left discarded.

George Clooney has always shown great skill behind the camera, just as he has in front of it. He has worked with many great filmmakers, from the Coen Bros. to Steven Soderbergh. His finest directed films would include his historical drama Good Night and Good Luck (2005) and his debut feature, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), which was written by Charlie Kaufman and passed as if it were directed by Soderbergh himself. Bouncing between screwball comedies and historical dramas, Clooney has proven versatility within various genres, but he hasn’t quite helmed a successful feature since The Ides of March.

Clooney’s ninth film is adequately crafted and acted, but the writing suffers as the story isn’t quite given as much emotional depth or complexity as it could have been. Perhaps we are now in an era where standards are so high and we demand so much out of our sports dramas after such intricate sports dramas as Million Dollar Baby, Foxcatcher, Moneyball, The Wrestler, and now The Iron Claw, where the stronger sports movies that stand out are the emotionally raw ones that don’t rely on sports movie cliches. The earnest writing by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) relies too heavily on familiar underdog sports movie cliches over resonance and substance. While the film is more in the vein of a prestige sentimental movie like Chariots of Fire, Seabiscuit, and Cinderella Man, The Boys in the Boat never quite reaches the emotional payoffs that it works towards.

Courtesy Amazon MGM Studios 

The film’s protagonist is Joe Rants (Turner), an American rower who competed in the 1936 Olympics. He has been fending for himself since his teen years, and he lives in an old car in Depression-era Seattle. Joe ends up attending the University of Washington, where he enrolls in engineering classes. Sadly, he can’t quite afford tuition to attend college as paid work has become more expensive. The school’s office receptionist informs Joe that he has two weeks to come up with money or he will be withdrawn from his courses and hold a bad standing with the school. He ends up finding out from his classroom friend Roger (Sam Strike) about upcoming tryouts for the men’s eight rowing team, and even though Joe doesn’t have any experience in the sport, he ends up going to tryouts because the athletes who make the cut get salaried pay that covers tuition, food, and board.

The school’s coach, Al Ulbrickson (Edgerton), is very strict and informs the athletes that are trying out that it’s going to be a brutal workout and practice. Only about 10 men will be selected, and Coach Ulrickson informs them that it is one of the most enduring sports that relies the most on teamwork than any other sport. The rowing scenes are quite exhilarating and expertly staged; they even call to mind the grandiose row sequence involving the Winklevoss twins competing in David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010). The cinematography by Martin Ruhe delivers striking compositions, and the editing by Tanya M. Swerling cuts the practices and scenes together where it’s the most energetic and rousing moment of the film. Spectators even watch the races from an observational train that runs across the rivers of the games. Sadly, the human drama never surfaces as much as the glossy rowing sequences.

Courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

We follow Joe’s journey from making the final cut to eventually being selected as the captain of the team to leading the school in the regional Olympic trials in New Jersey, where they defeat the Ivy League schools that have more resources and monetary budgets. Of course, Al runs into issues once he is informed by the athletic committee in the last moment that the trip to Germany isn’t covered by the committee and that the expenses are way out of the school’s monetary reach. There is sincere romance that generates between Joe and his fellow classmate Joyce (Hadley Richardson), whom he had a crush on those dates back to their elementary school years, but the romance feels lightly sketched, and Joyce isn’t even much emotional depth and also feels sidelined just as much as Al Ulrickson’s wife character played by Courtney Henggeler.

The most disappointing aspect is the third act in Berlin. While the second half of the narrative builds up going of the team going to Berlin and once the team and coaches arrive, the whole Swastika flags and SS totalitarian police state is normalized, and there aren’t any idealistic pushbacks in the writing or any subtle commentary aside from a quick cameo of Olympic gold winner runner Jesse Owens games (Jyuddah Jaymes) that they encounter at the walk-in. There are also reactionary shots of Hitler watching the sport in the stands, throwing tantrums when Germany underperforms. The lack of political posturing is quite unusual for Clooney, considering he appears to be in top form when his films become more political. The film could have benefited from some idealism among the characters; a team member gets ill, and most of the other team members are lightly sketched.

This is the kind of film that I observed some fellow critic friends label a “dad movie,” where it is certainly a comfort sports movie that is harmless and means well. I’m so close to giving this film a favorable review, but there are so many missed opportunities and a void of substance that is unforgiving. The film just never quite reaches its emotional depths, and the payoffs feel forced. The end result is a disappointing, albeit respectful, true story that deserves to be better told.

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT is now showing in theaters.